Cameroon – Western Union: Money transfers out of Cameroon suspended!

This is information reported by the daily Le Jour edition of 4 October 2016. Because of the increase in taxes on money transfers from Cameroon, Western Union transfers are suspended. “The situation is the same in almost all of the agencies that display the Western Union logo. It is almost impossible to send money abroad from an incumbent server that has long dominated the market of remittances in Cameroon and in Africa, “the newspaper writes.

Some, the newspaper said, first thought of a failure of the money transfer agency to pay tax. But this assumption proved false, because the Ministry of Finance (MINFI) reassured public opinion on this point. “There is not a record of Western Union for nonpayment of taxes. This is obviously an internal problem to the structure, “said Gideon Adjomo the communications manager MINFI.

Banking sources reveal that in reality, this situation has to do with taxation. For, it is noted that according to an official within the Western Union service in a bank in Yaounde “all money coming out of Cameroon via a transfer is now taxed at 33.33% on costs.” He continued “while we perceive only 20% from Western Union. It is a real loss to us. Because we pay more than what we get from our partner. “

In MINFI a source encountered the newspaper precised that “in the 2015 law of finances, the State of Cameroon tax in full international transfers that leave the country. This tax of 33.33% is deducted from commissions earned by international transfers of companies and their partners during transfers of money. ” In the newspaper it means that Western Union “refuses to review its commissions down to enable local partners to continue to provide the service without losing money.“